Pyrogenic transformation of Nannochloropsis oceanica into fatty acid methyl esters without oil extraction for estimating total lipid content

Abstract

This study fundamentally investigated the pseudo-catalytic transesterification of dried Nannochloropsis oceanica into fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) without oil extraction, which was achieved in less than 5 min via a thermo-chemical pathway. This study presented that the pseudo-catalytic transesterification reaction was achieved in the presence of silica and that its main driving force was identified as temperature: pores in silica provided the numerous reaction space like a micro-reactor, where the heterogeneous reaction was developed. The introduced FAME derivatization showed an extraordinarily high tolerance of impurities (i.e., pyrolytic products and various extractives). This study also explored the thermal cracking of FAMEs derived from N. oceanica: the thermal cracking of saturated FAMEs was invulnerable at temperatures lower than 400 degrees C. Lastly, this study reported that N. oceanica contained 14.4 wt.% of dried N. oceanica and that the introduced methylation technique could be applicable to many research fields sharing the transesterification platform.